| Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, The University of Reading
Food Labelling in the UK - A supporting material page |
Many manufaturers and retailers, have adopted a policy of excluding genetically modified ingredients from their foods. It is therefore unusual to see one. The following is one example of a product containing GM ingredients and with labelling meeting the requirements of the legislation:
In this case, the manufacturer has chosen the option to put the reference to genetic modification as a footnote linked to the soy and the maize by an asterisk. The footnote must not be in a smaller typeface than the list of ingredients. (Note that this image was taken before the Food Information to Consumers Regulation was adopted and therefore the list does not meet current labelling requirements on other matters e.g. allergen labelling).
The following figures have been created to illustrate the two other options for labelling if genetically modified ingredients are used (in this example, maize is used). The same requirements would apply to other genetically modified ingredients.
a) In this example the full description is used in the ingredients list:
b) In this case, since the word maize appears in the ingredients list, the statement can be shortened as follows:
For the main index page for this site, go to Food Labelling in the UK: A Guide to the Legal Requirements